


Forget Me Not

by Tgaret990



Category: All Elite Wrestling
Genre: 3rd person is usually my thing, :), Adam is head over heels, Adam-Centric, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apologies for any verb-tense disagreement, Blood, But I promise it's worth it!, Canon is briefly mentioned, Crying, Forget Me Nots!, Hanahaki Disease, Happy Ending, I can still get away with the T rating right?, Kenny just wants to take care of Adam and make sure he's okay, Kota is briefly mentioned, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining from our lovely oblivious Idiots, Near Death Experience, Poor Cowboy, So much angst, There's like a paragraph of smut but it's not very explicit sooo..., hello first person it's been a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tgaret990/pseuds/Tgaret990
Summary: Hanahaki. He should’ve expected it. He should’ve known the instant looking at Kenny made his heart beat a little faster, the way a smile or a kind word made him blush like crazy, the way Kenny would say his name so softly, so gently, so full of something he couldn’t quite decipher that made him feel like there was no one else in the world. And yet here he was, coughing up flowers post-morning workout. So many tiny blue flowers…
Relationships: Kenny Omega/"Hangman" Adam Page
Comments: 24
Kudos: 22





	Forget Me Not

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Flowering like the stars, and measureless as a kiss.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26191978) by [Hodgy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hodgy/pseuds/Hodgy). 
  * Inspired by [Last Call](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924593) by [DiveIn_HeadFirst_CantLose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiveIn_HeadFirst_CantLose/pseuds/DiveIn_HeadFirst_CantLose). 



Forget Me Not

A/N: The wonderful Hodgy wrote a Hanahaki Disease AU a while back that had me sitting at my keyboard for a good straight week afterwards looking up more examples of it, different works with it, trying to come up with ideas. And the lovely DiveIn_HeadFirst_CantLose has produced yet another achingly beautiful work with that AU. So. Mind if I take a stab at it too? With a happier ending?

  
  


Adam never thought he could hate flowers more than he did in this moment.

The cloying, suffocating smell of the pollen. The sharp ends of stems that he could bend with barely any pressure between his fingers. The feather soft, silky smooth petals eerily caressing his throat as they claw their way up his windpipe. The stunning deep, pale blue that reminded him of lying out in a field and looking up at the open, endless sky. Of quietly flowing streams that he would run through when he was done tending to the horses on the farm. Of loving, kind, curious, and  **_beautiful_ ** eyes that he could get lost in if ever he could meet them, hold their gaze and see into the other man’s soul, and him into his.

Hanahaki. He should’ve expected it. He should’ve known the instant looking at Kenny made his heart beat a little faster, the way a smile or a kind word made him blush like crazy, the way Kenny would say his name so softly, so gently, so full of something he couldn’t quite decipher that made him feel like there was no one else in the world. And yet here he was, coughing up flowers post-morning workout. So many tiny blue flowers…

“Adam, are you sure you’re okay?” Kenny’s voice is laced with heavy concern from the bathroom door of their hotel room. Adam quickly pushes the few stray petals into the toilet, clearing his throat of the dueling sensations of the flowers and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Yeah. I just… Need a minute. Maybe some water?” Kenny looks relieved that he can do something, quickly returning with a bottle of water as the evidence of the emotions Adam couldn’t deny anymore flushes down the drain. He takes several grateful gulps, sighing.

Kenny sits down on the dingy bathroom floor next to him, rubbing his back and looking at him with those deep blue eyes Adam couldn’t help but be enamored with. He meets Kenny’s gaze and can’t help the way he tears up. Kenny’s looking at him with so much care and concern and warmth, and it both hurts as he feels roots dig deeply into his chest and soothes his soul. Kenny ever so lightly wipes away a tear that slips down his cheek with a comforting smile, holding Adam close as he collapses into Kenny’s arms.

“I’m sorry. I-I’m so sorry.” He feels a kiss plopped in his mussed, sweaty hair, a strong embrace grounding him as his body heaves with ugly, broken sobs.

“Shhh. I’m here. It’s okay.” Kenny  **is** there. This—holding him, comforting him, being here for him when he feels more foolish and hopeless than ever—should be enough.

But it isn’t, no matter how many times he tells his heart otherwise.

The feelings had started… Well, Adam didn’t really know when exactly. There were various points in time where he would look at Kenny and wonder if he would ever see him as something more than just a coworker, a teammate. Maybe as a friend, someone he could rely on and trust with that vulnerable part of himself, or at least a few of the things that weighed on him immensely? One moment in particular that stood out for him was the night they’d won the tag titles on the Jericho Cruise. The way Kenny’s eyes lit up when they were finally alone after the show, most other passengers asleep and in their cabins. They were on the upper deck, standing side by side, leaning against the railing, looking up at the dark sky sporadically spotted with twinkling stars.

Kenny had looked to him with an expression he rarely ever saw: pure joy, something so warm and wholesome and beautiful that it took his breath away.  _ We won, _ Kenny had whispered to him.  _ We did it. _ So few words. Such a soft and lingering embrace shortly after. The next morning was the first time Adam had woken up with a fluttery nervous excitement in his chest, a wide and genuine smile on his face. Back then he thought it was just leftover happiness from the title win and Kenny’s reaction after. He never expected them to grow and evolve and manifest into something so wonderful… And so deadly.

And that night after All Out…

When Adam limped to the back broken, bruised, and barely upright… Kenny was there. Kenny had rushed to his side as soon as they were out of the line of sight of cameras. Kenny had tended to his wounds, checked up on him, worried and fussed over him. Stayed the night. And Adam had woken up in Kenny’s arms, feeling more alive and cared for than he had in a long time. He’d coughed up his first few petals later that morning, small enough that they could all fit on the tip of his pointer finger. Kenny had been by his side ever since, even after storylines had set them on completely different paths for the time being. Kenny roomed with him, traveled with him when he wasn’t with Don (who could fuck ALL the way off, by the way, the manipulative, slimy snake that he was), looked after him on his not so good days.

Maybe Adam was reading the situation completely wrong. Kenny was a very affectionate person with people he cared about. Hugs, kisses, compliments, terms of endearment: he used all of those things around his friends. And that’s all they were. Adam knew this. And the very thought made him clutch at his chest as flowers continued to grow, spreading more and more within him by the day.

And now here he is, throwing himself an embarrassing pity party in a hotel bathroom while the man who will never love him back holds him close and tells him everything will be alright when it  **won’t** . Adam chokes then, the familiar feeling of prodding stems, fuzzy, spiky leaves, and velvet smooth petals throwing him into a panic. He desperately tries to swallow them back down, but there are so  **many** , and they gracelessly tumble from his mouth as he hacks and coughs, Kenny letting out a noise of alarm as Adam pushes him away, tries to hide the seemingly endless stream of—

“F-Forget Me Nots?” Kenny’s voice is small, shocked and disbelieving. Adam raises his head to answer before another coughing fit falls over him, a few more flowers snagging in his hair as it hangs in his face. Kenny is quick to hold it back as he scrambles over to his side, waiting for Adam to fall silent, breaths ragged and pained, before letting the honey blonde strands slip through his fingers. “You… You have Hanahaki Disease.”

Adam meets his eyes again then, unable to handle the crushed look Kenny was giving him. It wasn’t pity. It wasn’t sympathy. It was pain, a pain that came with wanting desperately to help someone knowing there was nothing you could do. Adam can’t stand seeing Kenny that way, trying to put on as charming and as casual a smile as he can. It comes out as more of a grimace, he’s sure, and the blood staining his lips and teeth probably ruin the effect… Kenny’s eyes dart around the room, getting up and quickly wetting a washcloth, wiping away the crimson staining Adam’s face. Why does it feel so good? The way his insides are crowded and scraped at and crushed while his heart soars, full of joy and love and…

“I didn’t want you to know,” Adam whispers meekly, and Kenny cups his face right after he says it, drawing his gaze once again.

“I care about you. I worry about you.”

**_“I know_ ** . That’s why I didn’t want you to know. Because there’s nothing you can do, and I don’t want you to try and fix something that can’t be fixed and feel guilty about it all the time.” Kenny lets out a short, soft laugh, which cracks at the end. His voice would be broken if he tried to speak, Adam can tell.

Kenny helps him to his feet, half carrying him out of the bathroom and gingerly settling them both on the bed, lying on their sides. He pulls Adam back into his arms, head tucked under his chin, and Adam clings to him gratefully. There’s a strained silence for a few moments, Kenny trying to figure out what it is he wants to say, failing to gather his thoughts on anything but the obvious question burning at the forefront of his mind.

“Can I ask who it is?” Adam smiles grimly.

“It’s someone I know doesn’t love me back. How could they? They’re kind, sweet. Funny, caring, drop dead gorgeous. The definition of a real life angel. They have one of the biggest hearts in the world. I can’t imagine life without them, where I would be if they weren’t here.” He gulps, trying to keep his voice steady. “But there’s someone else, always has been. I never had a chance.”

Kenny is silent for a few minutes afterwards, and Adam feels a small weight lifted from his shoulders. Just saying it helps a little, even if it’s really not that much considering the magnitude of the situation. Adam savors the feeling of Kenny’s body against his, the scent of sweat, tea tree soap, and something distinctly Kenny. He commits everything he can think of to memory as he feels Kenny absentmindedly run his fingers through his hair. Finally Kenny speaks, and there’s something almost… Sad about his next words.

“Whoever it is is an idiot for not realizing how amazing of a person you are, how they have your entire heart, your entire  **_life_ ** , in their hands and don’t even realize it. You deserve to live and be happy with who you love.”

After all the fucking up he’d done? After how many years of a career that still hadn’t really gotten off the ground? After how many nights of getting shitfaced and blackout drunk because everything just felt like too much and not enough at the same time? He didn’t deserve anything that had to do with being happy. A slow, painful death that would end in him drowning in emotions he couldn’t help but love and hate all at once, drowning in something that reminded him so much of the things made him happy and yet were a sign of his demise.  **That** sounded much more fitting.  **That** sounded much more like what he deserved. Kenny wouldn’t want to hear any of that though, and Adam didn’t want to ruin the moment, so he just remains silent and nods. He would at least let himself have this.

The next few months only get worse.

Breathing had become more and more difficult. Adam spent more time off Dynamite and on the apron or the receiving end than not these days. His cardio just wasn’t the same anymore. He was pale, slower to react and move. He couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours before the scratching in his throat made him wheeze awake, resulting in a failed attempt at washing the flowers back down. To everyone else it just appeared to be poor Adam Page going through a rough time: separated from the Elite, drowning his sorrows at the bar every night, no friends, no place to call home and no faction to call family. Alone and miserable. They weren’t completely wrong, but they weren’t completely right either. He was all but one of those things. He wasn’t alone. He had Kenny. Kenny who wiped the blood and the tears from his face, who took care of him when he couldn’t take care of himself, who never left his side if he didn’t have to, who wove the Forget Me Nots into flower crowns that he’d wear in his hair in an effort to make Adam smile, which he did.

They brought out his eyes.

It was on one fateful evening, when Adam couldn’t stop hacking up flowers for several minutes, Kenny holding his hair back and whispering soothing words in his ear, that it happened.

Bundles of Forget Me Nots fall to the mattress of Kenny’s bed in his house, Adam staying over for the weekend. They’re coated in blood, the red staining the petals not quite purple if one looks hard enough. Adam’s breaths are shallow and labored, his voice raspy. His skin is clammy and too warm for comfort. There are dark bags under his red, irritated eyes from a lack of sleep, tears streaming down his cheeks from the pain. Adam’s arms fail him, his body pitching forward, and Kenny gently and carefully catches him, sitting him up and maneuvering in front of him so he can tip his head back for a few sips of water. He doesn’t know if it helps, but he does it anyway.

“Y-You don’t… Have to look after me… Just because I’m…” A fucking moron? A lovesick fool? The biggest dumbass to ever exist?

“I want to,” Kenny tells him without hesitation. “I just…” Kenny seems to be searching for the right words before he almost bursts into tears, trying so hard to keep it together, to provide some form of comfort for Adam. He manages to get out, “I just wish I could do more,” before he breaks.

No matter what Kenny does, he’s absolutely beautiful in Adam’s eyes. Beautiful when he’s smiling, laughing, in the ring, walking across the room, scowling in unbridled fury, sobbing his heart out for someone who doesn’t deserve his sadness or compassion… These quiet, hiccupping sobs are no different, as awful as it might be to say. He would never wish for Kenny to be so sad, but he couldn’t help but still be blown away by him, even in this state.

“This…” Kenny sniffles, futily wiping at his eyes and nose as more tears fall, more snot runs down his face. “This person. You said there was someone else?” Adam nods, eyes trained on the pile of Forget Me Nots that lie between them. Kenny musters up a fragile smile, a small spark in his eyes. “You know… There’s this side quest in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate called Pressed Flowers.” Adam manages a small smirk at that, feeling Kenny’s excitement about the game. “You go around London collecting flowers for the character Evie. Each time you find one there’s a book entry, about what they mean.” Kenny’s hand caresses his cheek then, and Adam shivers with a shaky gasp, leaning into the touch. “True and undying love. Loyalty in a relationship no matter how far and how long you’re apart. The promise to never forget the other person, even after they’re gone… That’s what Forget Me Nots symbolize.” Adam meets his gaze then, sees a fury and disbelief in Kenny’s eyes that aren’t directed at him. “What kind of person is so blind to a love so pure and so strong? Who in the world could ever be worthy of that kind of love, especially from someone as amazing as you?” Adam winced as he laughed, quickly stopping as it turned into a coughing fit. He smiled sadly.

“You’d be surprised.”

He couldn’t be mad at Kenny for not knowing, couldn't  **stay** mad at him even if he did know. How could someone so damn near perfect love someone as insignificant and useless as him? He knew Kenny was a broken and hurting man inside. Betrayal, abandonment, broken trust, enablement, heartbreak, insecurity. He knew those things plagued Kenny every single second of every day. But Kenny found a way to not let all of that pain define him, dictate his every move, infect his every thought. Kenny was stronger than Adam could ever hope to be, dream to be. Kenny had a future full of cross promotional glory, seven star matches, video game tournaments, fitness promotions, and probably a quiet retirement with his cat. Kenny’s future was bright and long. Adam wouldn’t have one very soon. Maybe then he’d find peace from the guilt that ate him alive everyday for falling for someone who loved another with all of their heart. Maybe then he’d find peace from the sweet agony of watching the only person he could ever see spending the rest of his life with try futily to make his life easier while being the cause of all the pain to begin with.

“Can you…? Can you at least tell me who it is? Maybe there’s still time! If we could just—

“There’s no point,” Adam tells him. “He could never… Feel the same way.” His mind briefly flashes him the image of Kota, smiling sweetly at them with an adorable little awkward wave, whispering Kenny’s name like it was the most beautiful word in the world.

“You’ll never know unless you tell him!” Kenny insists, and Adam can’t hold back anymore. He sits up as straight as he can, mustering up what little energy and courage he can find, holding Kenny’s gaze.

“You want me to tell him? Fine.” He takes a deep breath. He can do this, right? He’s shaking, and not just from the nerves. He’s lightheaded and focusing is getting a little bit harder as the minutes go by. “Every time I see those flowers they remind me of you, of your eyes. The way I can get lost in them if I stare too long, like the sky, or the ocean: neverending blue and full of so much if you know where to look. And every time I always silently hope that when you and Ibushi eventually get back together, when the world stops going to shit, that you won’t forget about me after I’m gone. I feel like I can’t live without you. Your beautiful smile, your adorable curly hair, your late night gaming and stupid puns, your off key singing in the shower, your infectious laugh, your warm hugs and kind words. The person who didn’t leave me when everyone else did. The person who wants me to be around instead of disappear.” Kenny’s looking at him with a mixture of awe and horror. “The person I love more than anything in the world.”

Kenny lets out a broken sob when Adam finishes, hands covering his mouth until he can speak clearly enough to be understood.

“I did this,” he whispers, and the guilt and soul deep hurt Adam can  **feel** from those words encourages him to continue.

“Nonono! This isn’t your—” Adam has to fight against another bundle of flowers, roughly swallowing them back down so he can keep speaking. “This isn’t your fault. I’m the idiot who fell for you. I know you love him more than anything. I made peace with that a long time ago.” Dark blood is dripping down his chin now, a stark contrast against his sickly pale skin. “Just having you h-here, knowing that you care, i-is enough.” He manages a genuine smile and Kenny grabs his face a bit roughly, jarring him.

“Adam… Adam, I’m so sorry!”

“You don’t have to apologize, Kenny.” It’s getting harder to breathe now, he notices, and he can feel leaves and stems rustling against his throat each time he inhales and exhales.

“I do though! I do! All this time… You were talking about me.” His forehead  _ thunk’ _ s lightly against Adam’s then. Kenny’s voice is starting to grow a little distant and echoey, Adam’s vision blurring. “And I didn’t even realize. I was so convinced that you could never possibly feel the same way…” And it’s that statement that makes Adam freeze.

Feel…

The same?

“You’re all I can think about sometimes. The way you move so gracefully and powerfully in the ring, the way your smile’s just a little crooked and how it’s just the cutest thing, how much your accent makes me melt, the way you’re so observant, so sweet, so caring, how badass you looked riding into the stadium on a fucking horse, the way every time you look at me I just know you’re someone I’d be a fool to let go of because you’ll always be there for me even if you’re going through the absolute worst.” His grip on his face softens then, as does his voice, and he pulls back to look at Adam again. “I spent so long trying to figure out how to tell you what I was feeling, before I first saw the flowers. After that I kind of gave up hope that things could ever work out between us.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Until now.”

_ “Kenny…” _ Adam doesn’t want to believe it, doesn’t want to give himself hope, but here Kenny was, saying everything he thought he’d never hear and he’s motionless, holding his breath, as if one little movement could shatter the moment in an instant and he would go back to dying in Kenny’s arms.

**_“I love you, Adam._ ** I have for a while now and I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m so sorry I put you through all of this! I’m sorry I didn’t realize! I’m so sorry!”

Adam gulps in huge breaths after that, breathing deeply and clearly for the first time in several long months as he feels the flowers that have been rooted deep within him slowly wilt and disintegrate. Sights and sounds rush back to him in full force. His throat is scratched raw, sore and bleeding, but he can slowly feel it healing as he smiles. In relief, in happiness, in so much he couldn’t describe or express with words alone. It’s like the pure, unbridled, unconditional, unbreakable love that’s currently overwhelming and consuming his soul is healing all the damage inflicted by his ridiculous assumed unrequited love.  **_Mutually_ ** assumed unrequited love. His hands come up to grasp Kenny’s, and Kenny manages to hold in his sobs as he sees the look on Adam’s face, how the color has returned to his skin, the light to his eyes. Adam leans in slowly, nervously. He never thought he’d actually get this far. Kenny seems to be thinking along the same lines, and after a brief hesitation as their lips are a hairsbreadth apart they finally,  **_finally_ ** kiss.

It’s everything and nothing like Adam expected. It’s terrified that this is all just a dream, sad because of all the pain it took to get here, unsure because of its newness… But it’s also soft, longing, relieved, and so, so happy. Before long it gets a little more heated, a little more urgent, Adam letting out the softest of whimpers as the kiss deepens. They take a second to breathe before diving right back into it, shirtless now. Their hands roam over familiar scars, blemishes, freckles, and marks, tangling in hair, scraping nails lightly down the other’s back. And then there’s tongue and playful biting and moaning and shorts being kicked off and then Kenny’s inside of him and—

**_Oh._ **

They pause, panting, naked, thoughts and hearts racing, both of them blushing furiously as they grin sheepishly at each other.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. You literally almost died just a few minutes ago.  **Fuck.** ” Adam chuckles, deeply, loudly. It’s been so long since he was able to.

“It’s okay! You’re okay.” His face scrunches up then as he realizes something. “So… Not to kill the mood or anything, but… You don’t love Ibushi?” Kenny’s smile is soft as he imagines Kota, shaking his head slowly.

“Not in the way you’re thinking. There’s more than one kind of love, you know? The love I have for Ibu… He’s my best friend. He knows me better than anyone. We’d do anything for each other. He’s my other half in a way. But there’s nothing romantic there. The times we  **have** kissed we both ended up falling over the other laughing at how awkward it felt.” Kenny giggles at the most recent memory, of him and Kota attempting to make out and bursting into a fit of laughter part of the way through. “I love him, but not like I love you.” He takes a few moments to find the right words. “When I’m around you it’s like my mind stops racing every which way, my heart feels so full, and it just feels like everything will be okay. There’s calm and happiness and this overwhelming feeling of  **_right_ ** . I feel like I can do anything if you’re there. I feel like I can just be myself and open up to you completely. It’s easy to laugh, to smile, to break down, to feel things without a fear of being judged.” He nuzzles his nose against Adam’s cheek with a quiet hum of content. “It’s everything I never knew I needed. That’s the kind of love I feel for you.”

Adam kisses Kenny’s cheek after hearing that. Once, twice, then his lips. He’s speechless and glad to be. They both moan as Kenny’s hips buck, Kenny hitting somewhere Adam never knew could feel so good as he arched against him.

_ “Ah! _ I love you!”

Adam tells him for the first time without a pain in his throat, in the rest of his body, in his soul, and it feels so good that he can’t help but say it over and over again as their bodies move together, a bit out of sync at first until they find their rhythm. Kenny hikes Adam's legs over his shoulders, drives in even deeper. Their eyes meet, swirling with undeniable love and pure bliss, and for the first time in a long time the thought of Forget Me Nots makes them smile.

  
  


Closing A/N: Evie Frie and her love interest Henry Green actually end up getting engaged at the end of that side quest that was mentioned! I love that game. :) I hope you enjoyed this! Sorry for the boatload of angst. <3


End file.
